Ugh, that was weird and so pretentious. Shep looks like he's pushing 50, and the woman seems to have had so many face lifts & Botox injections that she can't move her mouth to talk anymore. I remember seeing him perform at my local rink when he was about 13 years old. What did he say about his skating career ... that he beat out 4 people who went on to become Olympic gold medalists? That he did quad loops? It was so annoying that I stopped watching it before the half-way mark.

Yeah, that was weird. I remember Shep as being hot looking back in the day, he looks awfully doughy here, and the eyebrows? Why is he being interviewed?

He had a nice lyrical quality as a skater, and nice long lines, but he wasn't a consistent jumper, he had those low tight spinny kind of jumps. Funny that he should brag about his jumping ability, he certainly wasn't noted for it when he competed at senior nationals.

I remember Dick Button laying him out at one nationals (Clark was a perennial top10 finisher, but never medalist). Button said he should either make some serious changes to his training or give up competing. Clark did eventually move to Boston, but it was very late in his career. He competed at nationals until he was 28.

Thanks for the link. Shepherd said that people often spell his name wrong... and he's right

Wow, his eyebrows are fascinating. I actually think his eyebrows are the strangest thing about the video (other than the host ). Otherwise, I think Shepherd's passion and enthusiasm about his projects and about helping people and stray cats is quite exemplary. At least he's doing something with his life beyond being greedy and materialistic. He seems to have a strong faith and optimism after coming back from wanting to commit suicide. More power to Shepherd. I fondly remember enjoying watching his skating.

Shepherd's references to records he set during his skating career is also very interesting. I think Shepherd's record of sectionals wins and consecutive Nationals appearances speaks for itself. What about his references to difficult jump combinations? Is a 3-axel, 3-loop something that is still considered impossible, and is he the only person or one of a few to ever complete this combination cleanly?

I wish Shepherd lots of good luck with his many projects, and with trying to incorporate figure skating with his ambitious endeavors.

I kinda miss Shepherd at Nationals; there was always such suspense with him. Would he show up? Would he have trained? Would he have a program or would he just go out there and kind of wing it? Would he skate to the 1812 Overture again?

Shepherd has always been like an eccentric gay character from a Dickens novel set in the 19th century. Still will never forget being at 2000 Nationals, where rumor had it that was inviting other male skaters up to his room to see jewel collection and one skater brought his mother up with him. (Hey, she wanted to see the diamonds. ) .... Oh and then the teary-eyed w/d mid-SP, cringing in pain, to a standing ovation as he took a lap around the rink waving to the crowd while crying.

I couldn't bring myself to watch the entire video. (I hate it when people act like their pets are miniature people -- I think it's disrespectful.)

But I don't have any problem with Clark calling himself a champion figure skater. He made it to Nationals for many years and even won the pewter medal and he's one other competitions. He was an elite figure skater and that's what "champion" means to most people not involved in the sport.

Clark was US junior champion, so I assume that's what he means if he referred to himself as a US champion. He also won a couple of senior B events and plenty of regional and sectional titles over the years.

I actually really enjoyed this interview. He seems very excited about his art, skating and jewelry, it's nice to see such passion. Sure he's unique but in the art world he's very normal. He's just proud of himself and should be, it's extremely hard to get a pewter medal.

I don't have a problem with him being proud of his skating, and I knew that he was into jewelry design, but I find this interview disturbing. His appearance, treating his cat like a person, the random interview topics, the set, the bizarre looking interviewer - it's as if he's sunk to doing anything for attention. This isn't arty, it's just weird.

I remember Dick Button laying him out at one nationals (Clark was a perennial top10 finisher, but never medalist). Button said he should either make some serious changes to his training or give up competing.

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I remember that, and found it a very inapproprate thing for Dick Button to say. Shepherd seemed to skate for the sheer joy of it, and also seemed to take great pleasure in the audience's enjoyment of his skating. I was one of the many people who thoroughly enjoyed seeing Shepherd skate. He got some huge ovations over the years.

It seems that Dick didn't realize that Shepherd should skate for his own reasons, not to do what would make Dick Button happy.

^ I can't recall exactly what Dick said either, but he only said things like that if you had potential and talent. Shep had both in spades but things came easy to him and he preferred the performance aspect of skating, couldn't focus and train with the consistency needed to be a champion. Shep frustrated Dick and quite frankly, me too... .

I don't have a problem with him being proud of his skating, and I knew that he was into jewelry design, but I find this interview disturbing. His appearance, treating his cat like a person, the random interview topics, the set, the bizarre looking interviewer - it's as if he's sunk to doing anything for attention. This isn't arty, it's just weird.

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I disagree with how you perceive Shepherd based on this interview. I don't think Shepherd was treating his cat like a person simply because the cat wore a jeweled collar, and was spoken to by Shepherd and the host. Frankly, Purrl is quite lucky to have found a home with someone like Shepherd to love and care for her. Shepherd indicated that he finds homes for other abandoned cats, and that's wonderful. If there were more caring people like Shepherd in this world, it might be a better place. Eccentric, passionate, or whatever, I'm glad to see that Shepherd did not go the route of suicide, but found a reason to continue living, and is busy pursuing creative and business-related goals, helping other people, rescuing animals in need, and not simply navel-gazing, web-surfing, or hoarding his wealth. Everyone who lives long enough will one day reach 50 and beyond. It's inevitable, so be prepared to live through it, endure it, survive what that stage of life might hold.

I found the interviewer's appearance and voice extremely distracting and unprofessional (she looks like a hooker or a Vegas stripper to me). Other than having gained some weight, though, that's pretty much the Shep I know - verbose, grandiose and full of enthusiasm for his projects. Any conversation with him is verbal roller-coaster and I generally end up more confused than enlightened. But I know he's been working on this show concept for many years so it's nice to see that it's getting off the ground at last. I wish him the best of luck and I'm happy that he seems to have found his niche.